Determination of frequency of specified structural congenital anomalies and the pattern of determinants affecting congenital malformations in prenatally diagnosed fetal anomaly cases before 20 weeks

Background: Congenital anomalies accounts for 8-15% of perinatal deaths and 13-16% of neonatal deaths in India. The aim of this study was to determine frequency of specified structural congenital anomalies and the pattern of determinants affecting congenital malformations in prenatally diagnosed fetal anomaly cases before 20 weeksMethods: The present study was conducted at Kamla Nehru State Hospital for Mother and Child, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla. During the study period, all pregnant women with prenatally diagnosed fetal anomaly before 20 weeks, reporting to the Department of OBG, were enrolled for this non-interventional prospective observational study. The observations were analysed on a statistical basis in structured data collection form.Results: Congenital malformations were significantly more common in the age groups of 20-30 years, of low socioeconomic status, vegetarians and who were non-compliant regarding folic acid intake. The majority of women bearing malformed foetuses came from areas at altitude of 500-2000 meters. 33.33% of foetuses had amniotic fluid abnormalities. 83.33% of the foetuses had a single malformation. Central nervous system was the most common system involved (61.90%) out of which neural tube defects (76.91%) were commonest. 11.9% malformations were of the gastrointestinal tract out of which majority (60%) were omphalocele. 4.76% of the total malformations were of the musculoskeletal system. 4.76% malformations involved the genito-urinary tract and 2.38% of the total malformations were of the cardiovascular system and craniofascial anomalies.Conclusions: Early detection of major malformation during pregnancy helps in reducing the high morbidity and mortality of neonates due to congenital malformations because of termination of pregnancy. The commonest system found to be affected was central nervous system followed by gastro-intestinal system. Food fortification with folates and vitamin B12 is the need of the hour

Performance of strawberry cultivars in mid hill region of Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh

The present study was carried out to evaluate the performance of strawberry cultivars in mid hill region of Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh. For this purpose nine strawberry cultivars viz Addie, Belrubi, Brighton, Chandler, Dana, Etna, Fern, Pajaro and Selva were planted at spacing of 30 x 15 cm in double rows on raised beds of 1m × 3m size at Regional Horticultural Research and Training Station, Bajaura, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized block design. The maximum plant height (16.37cm) was recorded with cv. Belrubi and maximum plant spread was attained by cv. Fern (EW 23.27 cm and NS 21.03 cm), maximum leaf length (16.90 cm) was recorded by cv. Belrubi and minimum (10.00 cm) with cv. Dana. The maximum leaf area was recorded with Chandler (76.03 cm2). The maximum fruit weight (14.93gm), total soluble solids (12.00oB), reducing sugars (5.01%) and total sugars (5.44%) were recorded with cv. Chandler. The maximum fruit yield per plant was observed with cv. Belrubi (996.3g/plant) which was closely followed by cv. Chandler (966.7 g/plant). Thus from the above studies it is concluded that Strawberry cultivars Belrubi and Chandler were best for commercial cultivation in mid hill region of Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh

A PSO Optimized Model for Identifying Spatio Temporal Hotspots of Terrorist Incidents in India

Terrorism is a global issue that prevails throughout the world on all scales. As the distribution of terrorist activities does not follow a random pattern in space and time, its spatiotemporal analysis has drawn considerable attention in recent years. Further, timely identification of Spatio-temporal terrorist activity hotspots is vital to prioritize the security efforts put by a country’s security enforcement agencies. The state-of-the-art methods for Spatiotemporal hotspot detection are based on scan statistics, which enumerates many Spatio-temporal cylinders, making it a computationally expensive approach. Therefore, this paper presents a time-efficient Particle Swarm Optimizer (PSO) based algorithm to detect the most significant Spatio-temporal hotspots. We formulated an optimization model for the problem and applied three variants of PSO viz. conventional PSO, HCL-PSO, and Ensemble PSO. Finally, these schemes have been used to detect spatio-temporal hotspots of different terrorist attacks in India. The results obtained by PSO-based methods have been compared with SaTScan over two parameters: the time required to detect the hotspot and its quality. All the PSO-based schemes significantly outperformed SaTScan in the timely identification of the hotspots. In addition, the quality of hotspots detected by HCL-PSO is at par with SaTScan, whereas the quality of hotspots detected by the other two approaches is slightly lesser than SaTScan. However, the quality of hotspots detected by the other two variants of PSO is slightly lesser than SaTScan. The results are statistically validated using Friedman’s statistical test

Experimental and Numerical Study of Magnetorheological Clutch with Sealing at Larger Radius Disc

In the existing magnetorheological clutch, there is a problem of improper transmission of torque or inefficiency in the transmission of torque. Research is carried out to improve the design of the magnetorheological clutch. Using simulation techniques and experimental study, a new seal at the outer radius is designed to improve the torque transmission of the magnetorheological clutch. The fluid flow between the input and output shafts are studied using COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3a software. The optimized design of the seal is subjected to experimental study and torque transmitted is measured. The results show an improvement in the torque transmission with the introduction of the new seal

Rainfall-Runoff Modeling of Upper Mountainous Riverine Watershed Area in Uttarakhand

Floods are one of the most prevalent natural catastrophes that occur every year all around the planet. Due to severe precipitation, cloud bursts landside, or glacial lake outbursts, flash floods are a typical occurrence in alpine rivers and places. Hydrological modeling is the outcome of a precise calculation for various mountainous aggregations. Flash flood prediction owing to heavy perception is being replicated in this research study utilizing rainfall data from a different occurrence for hydrological modeling. The parametric hydrologic modeling for the Mandakini River system upstream to Rudraprayag is covered in this research. Hydrographs are generated using the HEC-HMS semi-distributed hydrological model. In HEC-HMS, both stations, Agastmuni and Thaytur, are employed as point locations for precipitation time - series. Precipitation parameterized numerous climatic factors such as land use/land cover, topography information, rains, and soil texture, and ASTER DEM data were utilized as input to the model. The data was processed and analyzed using ArcGIS and the HEC-HMS model. These settings were used to simulate three historical flash floods: July 31, 2010, September 13, 2012, and June 13, 2013. Utilizing IMD rainfall distribution and TRMM 3B42 v7 3-hourly products, these parameters are confirmed for accuracy and likelihood of detecting flash flood ratio. For the study, the obtained results might be valuable to the hydrology and water reserves departments and research institutes

Betwixt agency and accountability: re-visioning street-level bureaucrats

This paper presents a critical assessment of the much-discussed tension between bureaucratic accountability and the contextual discretion of ‘street-level bureaucrats’ (i.e. front-line public sector workers). Based on an extensive literature review, the paper outlines the implications of the exercise of agency by street-level bureaucrats in everyday settings. It also looks at the challenges this agency engenders: loss of accountability and divergence from stated policy goals. The paper underlines the need for future research on institutional structures and organisational cultures around street-level bureaucracy. It suggests possible lines of enquiry to steer the debate in new, and hopefully productive, directions

EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF SOLID MICRONEEDLES ON THE TRANSDERMAL DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR Ɣ-ORYZANOL

Objective: This study's goals were to develop a minimally invasive array of biocompatible polymeric solid microneedles and formulate a transdermal patch of drug Ɣ-Oryzanol as per poke and patch technology. Methods: Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyse the morphology of the solid microneedle arrays, which were created using a stereolithography (SLA) printer with high-resolution capabilities (25 and 140 microns for the z and x axes, respectively). Transdermal Patches of Ɣ-Oryzanol were formulated and evaluated for various characterization parameters. Further, the produced microneedle-transdermal drug delivery system of Ɣ-Oryzanol was examined for microneedle insertion skin and permeation of the drug across the porcine skin. Results: Solid microneedle arrays were manufactured using biocompatible Class I Dental SG resin having dimensions of 600 µm height and 300 µm width with tip diameters of 30 µm and 1.85 mm interspacing (Distance from tip to tip) and they were strong enough to penetrate porcine skin to a depth of 381.356 µm crossing the stratum corneum layer without causing any structural changes. Transdermal patches containing Ɣ-Oryzanol were formulated using different ratios of HPMC: Eudragit E-100. Good, consistent, and transparent films were formulated when the thickness of the film ranges between 0.516±0.25-0.628±0.21 mm, average weights ranged from 168.23±2.61to171.22±1.25(10/cm2), folding endurance ranged in between 10 folds to 12 folds for all the formulations with tensile strength lie between the 0.365 kg/mm2 to 0.465 kg/mm2. All the formulations showed good drug content between 99.3±0.06%-90.4±1.64% with 100% flat surfaces. Moisture content was found in the range of 2.012±0.013 to 4.213±0.031. Drug permeation studies reveal that compound Ɣ-Oryzanol transdermal patches didn’t show significant permeation across porcine skin (4.802.25 g/cm2) without piercing with microneedles while after poking skin using microneedles (74.502.35 g/cm2) drug showed good penetration properties. It was found that the amount of drug delivered increased to 44.251.57 g/cm2 at 2 min, which was 14.502.35 g/cm2 at 1 min to 4 min 74.502.35 g/cm2. Conclusion: Successful preparation of the Microneedle-Transdermal drug delivery system of Ɣ-Oryzanol and their evaluation indicated that the quality and consistency of the formulated preparation were excellent. With advantages in terms of lowered dose frequency, better patient compliance, and bioavailability, this may find use in the therapeutic field

IN VITRO ABSORPTION STUDY OF CARBAMAZEPINE SOLID DISPERSION USING EVERTED GUT SAC METHOD

The oral Bioavailability of BCS (Bio Pharmaceutical Classification System) class II drug with poor solubility and reasonable permeability is limited by drug dissolution. In order to improve the aqueous solubility of the drug and dissolution of thedrug, the solid dispersion was prepared and evaluated for its absorption in intestine using modified everted gut sac method. The solid dispersion of carbamezepine (CBZ) was prepared using polaxomer and guargum by kneading method. The CBZ and CBZSD (Solid Disposisi) shows 2.329% and 3.948% drug absorption, respectively. The data show that solid dispersion increase the absorption of the CBZ in CBZ-SD is more than 70% in comparison to pure CBZ. The increase in CBZ solubility of the SD could be attributed to several factors such as improved wettability, local solubilization, drug particle size reduction and crystalline or, interstitial solid solution reduction. Key words: Everted gut sac method, solid dispersion, absorption, solubilit